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Kenny (Black Mirror)
Kenny is the villainous protagonist of “Shut Up and Dance”, episode 3 of the third season of Black Mirror. He was the 19-year-old son of Sandra, the elder brother of Lindsey, and a withdrawn and sullen teenager employed as a busboy at a local diner. On one particular night, however, he unwittingly stumbled into an online trap, and soon found himself harassed and blackmailed by an anonymous group of cybercriminals who had gained access to his computer. Although seemingly an average teenager Kenny in fact harbored an awful secret deep within and was willing to go to extremes to keep it from getting out; and when the hackers threatened him with the publicization of a compromising video he saw no other way to escape his predicament but to give in to their demands with the hopes that he would ultimately be let go. He soon found himself forced into a shaky alliance with another blackmail victim, and both were sent out on a disturbing and bizarre trek across suburbia carrying out their tormentors’ bidding to keep them satisfied. Kenny’s sheer paranoia over the situation and increasing desperation to appease the hackers stemmed from his concealed nature as a pedophile. He collected and masturbated to indecent images of young children, and his resulting desperation to keep the video from being leaked resulted in him effectively becoming a criminal in the space of a single day, going so far as robbing a bank under duress and killing another pedophile with his bare hands in self-defense. Despite the odds, Kenny emerged victorious from the fight but in a cruel twist of fate, the footage was released to the world regardless of all that was said and done. He was later found bloodied and scarred on emerging from a heavily wooded area and was swiftly taken into police custody. He was portrayed by Alex Lawther, who is known also for portraying James in The End of the F***ing World. Biography Nothing is known of Kenny's early life or place of birth, though he once claimed to have grown up in London, no doubt falsely. Kenny lived in a suburban flat with his likely-divorced mother and sister, his father's whereabouts unknown. At some point in his youth, Kenny realized that he had a sexual attraction to younger children; these urges only grew and resulted in him collecting examples of child pornography. Given the deeply criminal nature of such an interest, Kenny attempted to keep this side of himself concealed as best as he could in an attempt to preserve his honor and reputation. He eventually took up a job as a busboy at a local tavern named Barnie’s BBQ, where he befriended Melissa, his manager, but was unable to fit in with other colleagues. The nature of his work provided him with an outlet for his pedophilic urges, and Kenny found himself acting on them in both active and subconscious ways. He was seen to have observed children at the restaurant from a distance and his interactions with them differed significantly from interactions with peers. On one particular occasion, he returned a toy truck that a little girl had mistakenly left behind and waved at her as she left. On returning home later that same day Kenny walked into his room and found his laptop missing. Panicking, he broke into his sister's bedroom only to find her using it without his permission to watch movies. After telling Lindsey to use her own laptop in the future in spite of her insistence that hers was out of order he listened as she explained herself, stating that the computer had frozen on account of her trying to watch some "film thing". Kenny did a double-take, initially assuming that she had stumbled upon the pornography he kept on his hard drive, but she claimed to have downloaded software that lets the user watch free films. In the wake of that misunderstanding, an irate Kenny returned to his bedroom with his laptop, quickly seeing the extent of the damage from the malware. Kenny browsed the Internet in an attempt to find a good antivirus, stumbling upon Shrive as a first result. Seemingly a legitimate and effective anti-malware suite, Shrive was, in fact, a hacking tool used by a mysterious group of cybercriminals. Although it scanned and seemingly cleaned his computer up the phony software also activated his computer webcam without Kenny's knowledge, allowing the unseen hackers to monitor him constantly. The next day Kenny was left to take care of Lindsay while his mother was away on a date. Once his mother left Kenny stayed in the living room for a while, becoming aroused by a sexual music video playing on the television. After making sure Lindsey was distracted enough Kenny returned to his room, locking the door behind him and closing his blinds. Momentarily pondering whether or not this was a good idea, Kenny gave in to his impulses yet again and began to masturbate. Following this, Kenny cleaned himself up before returning to his laptop once more, only to see a strange message from an unknown sender in his email client. Taking nothing of it at first, Kenny's curiosity was piqued nonetheless, and he proceeded to open it. On opening the email he immediately saw its contents, the vaguely threatening message “WE SAW WHAT YOU DID” and a yet-unknown attachment. Scrolling down further, his pupils shrank and his breathing became labored as he finally noticed the attached file—illicitly-obtained footage of him entering his bedroom to masturbate. Rapidly losing his cool as the video continued playing, Kenny attempted to convince himself that this was all a horrifying nightmare; and yet, the sheer gravity of his situation dawned upon him. On reopening his laptop he placed a piece of Blu-Tack on his webcam lens, but the hackers threatened him further with the video's immediate publicization if he doesn't give them his phone number. Kenny attempted to negotiate and asked his tormentors if it was "money" they were after, but the hackers refused to take no for an answer. Upon giving them the phone number he was told to await being "activated". The next morning, a shaken Kenny attempted to make some sense of his situation, initially arousing his mother's concern but convincing her that he was "okay". At some point afterward Kenny cycled off to work, parking his bike in its usual spot. Before entering, he tiredly rubbed his face before walking down into the locker room. As he got changed for work Kenny heard his phone chime as he removed his backpack; and to no surprise, it was the hackers, having activated him at last. With his online tormentors instructing him to be at a particular location within 45 minutes, a parking lot in an industrial estate fifteen miles away, Kenny attempted to negotiate with them but the hackers remained indifferent and instead reiterated their threat. Seeing no other option Kenny feigned a sudden onset of illness and fled the workplace once the coast was clear. After 45 minutes of nonstop cycling, Kenny arrived at the parking garage and texted the hackers to confirm this. As he attempted to regain his breath, in the distance he could hear the revving of a moped engine. The rider came up from the deck below and stopped in Kenny's vicinity, before handing him a white box containing a four-digit number of some sort. Although initially hesitant Kenny reluctantly accepted the mysterious package from the man and inquired as to what he was meant to do next, only to be told to do “whatever hackers say”. Once the man left Kenny confirmed his receipt of the package and set off for his next destination, Room 121 of the nearby Wayhaven Hotel; although he initially tried to cycle there he was unable to even pull off with the box weighing his bike down, and instead wound up taking the bus. In the clear for the time being, Kenny decided to take a look inside the box out of curiosity, seeing that it was nothing but a white sponge cake with the words “I LOVE YOU” iced onto it in red. Following a short bus ride, Kenny arrived at the hotel and looked around for the room number given, before hesitantly knocking on the door. A mere moment later came the response, the voice of a much older man. With the man curious about his visitor Kenny attempted to croak out an explanation for his presence, only to be rebuffed by his contact. With the man rapidly losing his cool Kenny turned to his tormentors for assistance, only to be told to say that "Mindy" sent him. Kenny inhaled and knocked on the door once more; when the man finally threatened to “kick the cake up his f***ing arse” Kenny explained that he was sent by a certain Mindy, and the man opened the door at last. Visibly displeased, he asked about the box's contents, but Kenny found himself trapped between a rock and a hard place. The man—a middle-aged businessman by the name of Hector—asked if Mindy had sent him with the cake, but Kenny sheepishly answered that “that’s what they told him to say”. Inviting Kenny into the hotel room Hector demanded to know more about the circumstances of this interaction; panicking internally, Kenny frenetically tried to explain that the “phone people” were leaving texts on his phone and that he follows their commands, but whatever explanation he could muster up came out incoherent. At wit's end, Hector snatched the phone off of Kenny and skimmed through the texts. Hector finally demanded Kenny identify himself, and Kenny proceeded to explain his predicament as best as he possibly could. At that moment, however, the man’s world evidently came to a crashing halt as the hackers had now personally made themselves known to Hector in addition to Kenny. As Hector wallowed in self-pity and downed a bottle of strong liquor from the hotel room’s minibar Kenny snapped a photograph of him in his own compromising position as was required. Kenny helplessly watched as the sheer weight of the situation set in for his acquaintance but was then reassured that everything would be alright if they both worked together. Kenny, however, was less than convinced, and further inquired about what they had to do; Hector himself responded with uncertainty, stating that they had to take the cake to a designated location and had to find a car in the hotel’s underground parking lot with a particular registration number. With the car soon collected Kenny and Hector raced towards their next destination, their timeframe for reaching the designated location growing increasingly short. Hector broke the ice by half-heartedly asking his companion about what sort of dirt the hackers had on him, but feeling rather uncomfortable about the whole situation Kenny offered him no response. To pass the time Hector explained his side of the story, telling him that he was waiting for a prostitute and that he was a family man with a happy home life before reaching a midlife crisis. In his own words, he began to grow “bored” of his wife and longed to return to the irresponsible glory days of his youth, bluntly declaring in his own words that he wanted to “f*** a twenty-something for old time’s sake”. As an increasingly uncomfortable and perturbed Kenny was forced to listen to his rant, Hector went on to explain that he had been catfished by the hackers, who posed as Mindy. Kenny soon came to realize just how serious the life-altering situation he found himself in was when Hector mentioned that they “sucked up his hard drive like an audit”. As much as he did not want to admit it to himself Kenny knew exactly what this meant—the hackers had likely cloned his hard drive too and thus possessed copies of the indecent images that he masturbated to; it wasn’t just the video anymore. Tears welling up in his eyes, Kenny’s realization that the hackers were now threatening to expose his pedophilia to the world was only worsened by Hector shouting that he was not going to lose his children over something like this. Having finally reached a breaking point Kenny broke down and revealed to a rather-baffled Hector that the hackers had filmed him “doing it” through his webcam. Hector initially inquired about whether the camera caught him having sex but Kenny responded otherwise, causing Hector to rightfully assume that they caught him masturbating. Although Hector tried to reassure his companion this did absolutely nothing to quell Kenny’s paranoia. The two were soon forced to pull into a roadside gas station when Hector realized the car was low on fuel, putting a dent in the conversation. Once the fuel had been paid for Kenny emerged from within the store only to find Hector conversing with an unfamiliar woman. As Kenny cautiously approached the two, the woman took note of his presence immediately; Hector then chimed in, in an attempt at quelling her suspicions, bluffing that Kenny was his “nephew” that he was busy dropping off at the nearby train station. The ruse seemed to work and the woman introduced herself to him as Karen, the head of the parent-teacher association at the school attended by Hector’s children, Cassie and Theo. With time slowly running out for both Kenny and Hector, they tried to excuse themselves from the conversation, but Karen inquired about getting a lift home; in spite of this leaving a major dent in their schedule Hector relented out of the goodness of his heart and let Karen tag along with them as she jokingly reassured them that they would “hardly need to slow down”. As Karen sat down in the back seat she took note of the cake Kenny had left there; she inquired Hector about it but he said that it was meant for Penny, before pulling out of the petrol station in an attempt to rid themselves of her as soon as possible. The ensuing car ride was awkward, and Kenny and Hector attempted to avoid any sort of conversation with their passenger to prevent the truth about their circumstances from slipping out; to compound matters further Karen’s home was in the opposite direction from where they were meant to be heading, and the hackers made it very clear to both men. The conversation soon turned to Kenny as Karen inquired about where he was headed back to from there; forced into a corner he attempted to stutter out an explanation but Hector interjected, stating that Kenny was headed back to Birmingham. Kenny was left with no other choice but to keep this particular ruse going, playing along as Karen stated that her husband was from there also and responding that he was “mainly” from the “south” of town. With the hackers now spamming both their message boxes Kenny only grew more and more anxious as the act he put on seemed to collapse; Karen began asking him questions that became increasingly difficult to answer, ones in large part concerning his presumed family ties and his exact relation to Hector. Without a second thought, Hector then floored it, startling Karen out of the conversation before hastily and recklessly swerving into oncoming traffic. After narrowly avoiding a crossing pedestrian, as a dazed and baffled Karen looked on from the back seat Hector simply stated that Kenny “can’t miss his train”. He continued driving recklessly through suburban streets until Karen demanded to be let off, visibly overwhelmed by what had just transpired. With Karen now out of the way, Kenny and Hector both proceeded to their target destination at long last, arriving at a village in the English countryside. Coming to a halt next to the town square they took a moment to calm themselves down, with Hector finally asking Kenny if this was indeed the place. The ringing of their phones quickly confirmed it, however, and the latest message from their cyber-tormentors merely beckoned them to “LOOK IN THE BOX”. Kenny reached into the back seat for the box, bringing it forward and scrutinizing it closely as he held it in his arms. With the cover open Hector then reached in and began tearing at the sponge cake inside, rummaging through it before finally stumbling upon a sealed plastic bag. More than a bit confused at that moment, Kenny observed cautiously as an equally befuddled Hector unzipped the bag before removing its contents. Much to their utmost shock, the bag contained a faded blue baseball cap, in addition to a pair of yellow aviators and a Beretta 92FS-model handgun. As they took in the bizarre and unnerving sight—and in such a public space no less—the hackers messaged them both another instruction, one that shook them both to the core. As they read the text they received on their phones the reality of this horrendous situation that they found themselves in suddenly became too compelling to deny and took on an all-new horrific significance as a moment that could very well seal their fates and destroy their lives. In the hackers’ typically heartless and urgent tone the message merely prompted them both to decide within five minutes “WHO IS DRIVER” and “WHO IS ROBBER”. With a deathly silence permeating the air Kenny and Hector found themselves compelled to observe the National Allied Bank just across the street from them. Much like Hector Kenny found himself physically shaken and sickened to his core, wholly overwhelmed by just how far south things had gone in the space of all but a few minutes. Unwilling to go to such extreme lengths he finally gave up playing their game, but Hector then chimed in offering to drive while Kenny went in to hold up the bank instead, adding that he would stay put nearby with the engine constantly running. Although Kenny stated that they cannot go to such lengths Hector shut him down in an instant and began a tirade about the process of robbing a bank, claiming to have learned certain details from a “documentary”. With Kenny still refusing to budge Hector then tried a more drastic approach and attempted to guilt the teen into cooperating by stating that he would “drive a f***ing bread knife through his throat” if he were to lose custody of his children. On the seeming verge of suffering a mental breakdown a shaken Kenny finally croaked out that he merely “looked at some pictures” but Hector only used this revelation to his own advantage, going on another profanity-laden rant about how bleak his future could be if the video became public knowledge, haunting him until his dying day like a “gypsy-f***ing-curse”. Kenny caved internally—knowing full well that it would end up much worse for him than what Hector was saying with his hard drive contents cloned—and stammered that Hector could potentially drive away, but the older man reassured him that he would do no such thing. As a shaken Hector observed from the car Kenny left without a further word spoken and the gun in his hand, approaching the bank in his “disguise”. Taking a deep breath, he entered through the door without a moment to spare, knowing full well that this was the point of no return. Kenny slinked through the lobby, and on reaching the front counter suddenly whipped out the Beretta he had been assigned, startling everyone gathered. His adrenaline levels surging through the roof and a horrendous sense of paranoia overwhelming him entirely, Kenny aimed the gun directly at the teller and demanded money. The clerk was frozen in fear but Kenny panickedly yelled at her to hurry up and give him the cash. As the normally-bustling bank came to an absolute standstill the clerk proceeded to empty her cash drawer, asking if Kenny wanted the money to go into his backpack, which he tossed over to her in response. With the teller hastily putting cash into the backpack Kenny observed his immediate vicinity, the bank patrons present responding in visible terror to his presence; the woman then handed him the bag, and an absolutely petrified Kenny left the premises without a further word spoken. On emerging from the bank Kenny frantically looked around the quiet street, searching for any sign of Hector and the getaway vehicle; just as Kenny thought that Hector had made a run for it the Volvo pulled out of a side alley. As they raced out of town Kenny attempted to process what he had just done, but Hector finally assured him that they were in the clear at last. Finally being able to breathe, Kenny messaged the blackmailers that they had the money, and they were called to deliver the stolen cash to a particular location in the nearby countryside. Following this torturous experience, Kenny and Hector both assumed that they were in the clear at last, taking a minute to regain their senses after the horror of what they had been put through. After killing the engine Hector read his next text from the hackers that implored him to take the car away and destroy it in a discreet location; visibly shattered and a shell of himself by that point Kenny hazily inquired about they only wanted him to do so, before then receiving a text of his own requiring him to deliver the money to a drop-off point within the woods. With both of them knowing that this was where they had to part Kenny was then told by Hector that he could make it to the end now that they got this far. Assuming that all he had to do was drop the money off at the designated point Kenny left the car after saying his goodbyes, and Hector apologized to him for what he put him through as they finally parted ways. Kenny followed the GPS on his phone to his designated location, shaken to the bone by what he had just taken part in but nonetheless desperate to complete his task and finally return home. Following a long hike up the hill, Kenny finally reached the gate leading into the woods and passed through it following a brief moment of contemplation. Anxious beyond belief but still hopeful that this was the end of the road Kenny soldiered on despite having walked for a long period of time, before finally stumbling upon a clearing in the woodland that corresponded roughly to the designated location on his maps app. However, a tall man in a light blue parka jacket stood there next to a curious-looking cardboard box, and he approached with some caution. The man took note of Kenny’s presence almost immediately, despite being heavily inebriated. Kenny pressed on but the sketchy-looking man warned him to stay back, backtracking towards the box and opening it up before pulling out a white camera-equipped drone. With a tap of his phone, the man activated the drone, and it hovered over the clearing like a swarm of angry hornets, broadcasting a constant live feed of their interaction to their invisible tormentors. With the hackers observing their every move via the drone the older man, visibly as unnerved and apprehensive as he was, finally asked if Kenny had the “prize money”; somewhat baffled, Kenny inquired as to what he meant by “prize money” but the man in the woods only stated that there was to be a fight. With this having told him very little Kenny, growing more and more fearful of his present situation, looked to his mysterious acquaintance for answers about the circumstances of the fight, but the man merely revealed that they both had to fight or else the hackers would leak every single piece of information collected on them and that the winner ultimately takes the stolen cash for himself. Anxiety surging over him whole Kenny asked his opponent about the kind of fight that it was and how they would know when it was over. The man, however, did not utter a word as he removed his jacket, and at that very moment the horrifying realization of what the fight actually entailed hit Kenny like a brick—this was a fight to the death. Kenny’s heart started to race and he fought the urge to vomit, but the man then made it very clear that his own life would be in shambles if the blackmail material the hackers had collected on him was to get out. At that moment Kenny became a blubbering mess and tearfully revealed that he merely “looked at some photos” but the man knew better, revealing that he was also a pedophile. As Kenny began hyperventilating both of their phones rang, calling on them to “FIGHT NOW” and “TO THE DEATH”. With both of their fates sealed from that moment on the man charged at Kenny only to stop in his tracks when the latter whipped out the gun that he had been assigned for the robbery, aiming it directly at him. The older man backtracked and stood down almost immediately, tearfully pleading for mercy as Kenny refused to budge and continued aiming it straight for the man’s head. Repulsed and horrified by the kind of person he had become and not wanting to suffer through any more torture, a mentally-broken Kenny instead turned the gun on himself after a few tense moments and shoved the barrel to his chin, cocking the weapon and bracing himself for a hopefully instant end to his anguish. Screaming out as he pulled the trigger Kenny was stupefied to find that the gun had been empty all along, and examined the pistol in a daze. With the drone camera still rolling the man decided to seize his opportunity and brought a fleeing Kenny down onto the foliage in an instant. In spite of the odds, however, Kenny was able to turn the tables on his much stronger opponent and emerged victorious with the cash prize. Following this horrendous and agonizing experience, Kenny’s contact with the tormentors had seemingly ceased, and it would appear that he had finally made it to the end of his trial of penance. A bloodied and broken Kenny then left his jacket over the man’s corpse as an act of decency, before staggering through the forest in search of a way home. Later that evening Kenny was finally able to exit the forest, emerging in a sparsely populated area bloodied and broken yet still alive. As he limped down a well-lit trail he heard his phone ringing in his pocket and stopped in his tracks, pulling it out from within and seeing that his mother was calling. Kenny hesitantly answered, holding the phone up to his ear, and his chest heaved and heart sank to the floor the moment he heard exactly what she had to say. Tearfully screaming at him over the phone his mother revealed that he had been accused of possessing and viewing child pornography and a certain video of him had been circulating the internet that wound up being noticed by Lindsay and all of her friends. As she continued Kenny’s mouth went agape for a moment as he attempted to croak out an explanation for what he had done, but he soon came to the anguishing realization that he could not even begin to rationalize his actions. Profusely guilt-ridden over what he had become and unable to comprehend the sheer severity of his crimes, all Kenny could do at that point was silently cry, overwhelmed by everything and awaiting his inevitable punishment. It was all too much to bear, and even as his mother frantically begged him to tell her that none of it was true Kenny hung up without saying a word back, his face going pale and eyes going dead. His phone then chimed one last time, and as if to rub salt in the wound the hackers had sent him a rage comic troll face meme, only confirming that everything Kenny did was for nothing. At that moment, Kenny’s eyes were drawn upwards toward the trail in front of him as he saw siren lights flashing in the distance, three police cars pulling up ahead. Kenny gazed helplessly as several police officers exited the vehicles just up ahead, and hopelessly attempted to hobble away before finally being apprehended. Personality and traits Kenny was a soft-spoken, timid and generally withdrawn teenager; he was often ridiculed and verbally abused by his work colleagues and was not known to have any friends at his place of work save for his manager, and did not understand many social cues including her visible interest in him. Beneath his generally unassuming facade, however, Kenny led a double life of sorts and was a pedophile who frequently acted on his urges. His interactions with children differed significantly from his personal relationships with colleagues, and he initially attempted to rationalize this amoral and illegal behavior to himself by claiming to have “only looked at pictures”. Kenny’s concealed nature as a pedophile was without a doubt his darkest secret and one that could very well ruin his life and tarnish his reputation if revealed to the world; accordingly, he went to great lengths in order to keep this aspect of his personality concealed, including implementing a lock on his bedroom door and keeping his sister away from his laptop. On one particular day, however, Kenny stumbled headfirst into an online trap—he found himself contacted by mysterious cybercriminals who possessed a webcam video of him masturbating to his stash of child pornography and threatened to release it to the world if Kenny did not comply with their demands. This paranoia and desperation to prevent his secret from getting out eventually led to him blindly following every single command the blackmailers gave him, including robbing a bank and engaging in a death fight with another pedophile. Despite his many shortcomings, however, Kenny appeared to be genuinely kind-hearted and compassionate, as evidenced through his interaction with a little girl who misplaced her toy at the restaurant he worked at, although in hindsight his encounter can be taken in a completely different way owing to his attraction to children her age. Kenny also developed a positive, if a somewhat strange bond with fellow blackmail victim Hector during their time together. As Lindsay’s older brother he also was entrusted by his mother to take on a protective role in their relationship and had good relationships with his family prior to his outing. Despite his slender and frail frame Kenny made impressive time when cycling to his assigned destinations, and was eventually able to overpower a clearly much stronger man in a fistfight to the death. When finally confronted with his true nature as a pedophile Kenny was overcome with guilt to the point where he attempted to commit suicide only to find that the gun he had used for the bank robbery had been left unloaded all this time. It is highly likely that this ordeal, in particular, the robbery and the fact that he killed another man, left Kenny scarred for life. Although he survived this horrific experience he would soon learn from his own mother that the hackers had exposed his pedophilia in spite of all that had been said and done by leaking the footage to his entire contacts list, and Kenny was left utterly shell-shocked at the realization that the rest of his life was irreversibly destroyed from that moment on. 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